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European banks' difficulty in issuing commercial paper prompts a look at other companies that use this funding source, such as GE Capital, according to The Wall Street Journal. Although the company reduced its outstanding commercial paper to $46 billion from $101 billion at the end of 2007, that might still be too high. Companies such as Deere and Caterpillar have less, with $209 million and $2.2 billion, respectively.

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Inland Real Estate Trust has acquired five retail centers for $209 million. The purchases, which totaled 1.3 million square feet, included the Prestonwood Town Center in Dallas, a 233,182-square-foot retail center.

Jon Gregory, a counterparty credit risk consultant, said at a recent industry event that banks should not be allowed to book paper profits as the quality of their debt deteriorates. Gregory, formerly Barclays Capital's global head of credit quantitative analytics, called for a ban on trading of debt value adjustments, arguing that they pervert incentives and are an obstacle to reforms.

Hotel sales for this year could reach $5.5 billion to $6 billion, according to a research note by Baird, a level that would match deal flow in 2003. Year-to-date investments in this asset class have reached $2.2 billion, much of it by REITs. But buyers are frustrated at the lack of distressed properties available for sale.

GE Capital plans to cut by half its $80 billion commercial real estate holdings, said CEO Mike Neal, who cited the portfolio's eroded value of nearly 40%. "We're probably largely through just the free fall in asset values," he said. Real estate, though, is "not out of the woods yet." The company plans to focus its remaining real estate operations on loans.

Europe is facing its own real estate refinance shortage, with one estimate placing the shortfall at $209 billion during the next two years. DTZ Holdings estimates more than half of the problems will be in the U.K. and Spain. Defaults will be likely as banks won't be able to refinance all of the debt, the report concludes.